Summer Research
This season we have a number of research projects being carried out within the District. Besides our own work with fishermen to gather data on lobster, crab and crawfish stock health, we are working in collaboration with the University of Exeter and the University of Plymouth on three ongoing research projects:
The FISH INTEL acoustic tracking project will be coming to a close in June 2023. The data collected by the acoustic receivers have allowed us to capture crawfish behaviours and movement not previously possible, which will help develop future monitoring plans for crawfish within the District. They have also uncovered interesting migrations such as a number of tuna spending the winter months of 2021 in the Isles of Scilly, and migrating sea trout passing by the islands. A complete report of this research will be available in the Autumn.
The Doctoral Training Partnership PhD with the University of Exeter is continuing into its second year. The presence of a high number of predators in data from last years field work suggests that the marine ecosystem surrounding the Isles of Scilly is healthy. Initial analysis has also shown a unique community of species on Seven Stones reef, not seen elsewhere in the District.
This summer marks the start of the zero plastic, zero carbon fishing project with Jof Hicks on St. Agnes. This research will be led by the University of Plymouth over 2 years to improve understanding of the ecological impact and the fisheries effectiveness of gear that comprises withy pots and components made from natural materials.
Our work collecting fisheries data onboard vessels in the fleet this season includes length, sex and abundance data, alongside tag/mark/recapture information to understand movement and growth. This data will help us understand the health of our commercial stocks, European lobster, brown crab and European spiny lobster (crawfish) and feed into fisheries management plan developments.